SANDPOINT - Standby counsel for a North Idaho man implicated in a home-invasion robbery attempt last fall is asking to be removed from the case.

Bonner County Deputy Public Defender Dan Taylor moved to be dismissed from Randy Carl Eiland's case because of a "complete breakdown" in the attorney/client relationship.

Eiland, who is representing himself, also wants Taylor removed. Eiland claims in court documents that Taylor and Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall "have conspired together to help the state gain a strategy advantage" in the case.

Taylor said the breakdown is so profound that he is moving for the entire Public Defender's Office to be removed from the case, according to court documents.

A hearing on the motion to withdraw is set for June 15 in 1st District Court. The court will also take up defense motions for additional investigative funds, transcripts and permission for a defense investigator to be present when evidence is delivered to the defense.

Eiland, 51, is charged with battery with intent to commit robbery, aggravated battery and burglary. He pleaded not guilty to the felony offenses and is scheduled to be tried in August.

The charges stem from a daylight home-invasion of a southwest Sandpoint home last October. Eiland is accused of breaking into the occupied home and attacking a homeowner with bear repellent spray. The homeowner and his wife and daughter took refuge elsewhere in the home and Eiland fled, according to court documents.

Eiland was found a quarter-mile away from the home and appeared to be showing symptoms of exposure to the caustic bear repellent, court records indicate. There were also bits of broken glass on Eiland's clothes and shoes.

Eiland, who was convicted of murder in a shooting in Washington in 1985, contends he has an alibi and was on a public bus when the break-in occurred.

Eiland is being held at the Bonner County Jail with bail set at $500,000.